Indigenizing Harm Reduction

Harm reduction is a key area of work for us at NYSHN. This means keeping each other safe while using substances or having sex, but also as a daily practice that lots of people use to reduce the everyday risks and harms while trying to create some safety in unsafe situations. This can apply to individual things we do but also to systems, structures, and realities we face like racism and colonialism that actually make our lives less safe.

We created our Indigenizing Harm Reduction model as an attempt to address how mainstream harm reduction practices aren't all there is to choose from and how different Indigenous communities can reclaim self determination over our health and bodies.